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1962 Citroen 4-Door Sedan
ID#: 8531366
Late 1962 w/Electric Wipers |
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RonSusser.com Review of this car |
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The Citroen 2CV was introduced in 1948, and continued in production with occasional changes until 1990 - actually longer than the VW Beetle! Nearly 4 million standard models were produced, plus a variety of special models. The 2CV featured overall low cost of ownership, simplicity of maintenance, an easily serviced air-cooled engine (originally offering 6.6 kW, 9 hp), and minimal fuel consumption. In addition, it had been designed to cross a freshly ploughed field with a basket full of eggs on the passenger's seat without breaking them, because of the great lack of paved roads in France at the time. Although the car boats many innovations, one of the most important is the use of Michelin radial tires from the inception in 1948, the first vehicle to use radial tires commercially. |
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| September 10, 2026 - I figured out how to roll the top back finally. You pull the center part out of the holder and that lets you roll the top back to the rear window. The battery finally gave up, but I had a new one in the garage already. A Group 19, larger and made for a pre-1967 VW Bug, but it still fits in the battery box and holder. Everything is working now. I have a centrifugal clutch, an option after 1960. If the engine is idled down, it doesn't engage the clutch. You can come to a stoplight and just use the brake in first gear. Still have to use the clutch to shift up. I need to figure out why the engine stumbles on acceleration, but other than that, the car is mostly done. | |
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| September 9, 2026 - The 2CV is back together. Some body filler and paint took care of the damaged main section, and I got new center trim from the Netherlands (Nice to have a 64-year-old car I can get trim parts for!). I put the front bumper together using some new stainless steel hardware. The whole car looks like it was disassembled and put back together with all new nuts and bolts. As far as I can tell, the car was restored with all new parts about 2020. Paint, updated top, interior, steering wheel, gaskets, seals, bumpers, engine parts all look new, and are different than what showed up in pictures of the car from earlier. |
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| September 8, 2026 - My ignorance about the Citroen bit me bad this time - the fan grille arrived today and is too small (on the left)! I had thought all 3-arm grilles were the same (later models had 4-arms). This one must be for the even smaller engines from the late 40s and 50s. Some small consolation comes from the fact that few others would have known. But it is nearly $200 of my money down the drain. Good news is the front bumper is pretty much repaired and painted. I should have the car together tomorrow. I have the bumper pieces and fan painted, and did a fair decent job of straightening the mesh on the grille guard I had planned to replace. It mostly involved opening up the crimped outer edge and bending the wires back in place, then re-crimping the edge. I masked off and painted the cooling fan and then touched up the surround. The battery is down, this time needing a charge. I have a new one at the house which I may have to swap out. It is bigger but should fit the basic tray. | |
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September 6, 2026 - I have been working on the front bumper and have it almost ready for paint. I think the most recent skim of body putty will take care of the last depressions, and I can prime and paint it. I also got in the side-view mirror. An exact fit thanks to careful measuring, and it has a factory black mounting gasket instead of the obviously home-made one. The new cooling fan grille is due in Tuesday from Italy - that should finish most of the work. I plan to drive the car to the TRAACA Chili Cookoff being held this year where I bought the Nash I traded for the Citroen three years ago! As a side note - the battery went totally dead and scared me until I found that the real culprit was a loose cable. All tightened, and back to snuff. |
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| September 1, 2026 - The 2CV was obviously mostly restored after the Fantomworks TV episode. Everything was done - paint, bumpers, interior, steering wheel, top, wheels, etc. I have been able to get a lot of information from Citroen 2CV Media sites. When I got the car the front bumper had taken a minor hit that damaged the bumper paint, bent the middle a little, and ruined the center trim strip. I drove the car to Mom's (It was an adventure akin to driving a riding lawn mower there) yesterday, and took the front bumper off and apart today. Happily, the damage is light and parts are all new - I was able to remove the black rubber press-fit cushions for the hood from the bumper guards. I will sandblast, straighten, and repaint the front bumper and guards and put it all back together. Also, I got the package tray and decals ordered just a few days ago from Burton in the Netherlands! |
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August 25, 2026 - The parts order from Bruton's 2CV in the Netherlands has finally been released! Over a full month because one of the items had a small amount of aluminum? I had to send in multiple forms and FedEx struggled as well. At least I can get the parts. It may take longer, but they are the only ones I can get some of the parts from! Now to see if they arrive at the house. If I can get these, I will probably order some other parts, making sure there is nothing metal in the order. |
| August 12, 2026 - I got some headlight bulbs in from eBay (No word yet on my order from the Netherlands) and installed them on the 2CV. Everything is working now, so I can take it out on the road. Not the Interstate, with a top speed of just under 50 MPH. I had sorta wanted to take it to our TRAACA group gathering this weekend at the Shriner Show, but I am taking the 1962 Cadillac since that is a show that Tom always took the car too. Still, it is nice to have the car all working. I got some high-zinc oil to change out the lubrication/cooling before I try taking it any distance. |
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August 1, 2026 - The only things not working on the Citroen were the headlights. I figured out how to get the bulbs out and found that they were rather spectacularly bad. (See image at left). They are also hard to find - big surprise for the weird old French car. I have some coming (eventually) from Burton 2CV in the Netherlands, but in the meantime I have 3 coming from an American supplier. I had to check the bulb type and look at photos, but these should be correct. The ones I ordered from Burton are stuck in US Customs. |
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| July 29, 2026 - Best Bud Chip came up with a solution for the license plate - an after-market license bracket he took off the 'Monster,' a TD he is fixing up. I sandblasted and painted the bracket, then added a nice MGB rear plate assembly that looks great and works well. Then I really got brave and took the car for its first real outing. I drove to Chip's - he wasn't home but I got a photo as proof. Then I drove over to Tim's (the man I got the Citroen from), but he wasn't home either. However, I was able to get the Citroen out - it got some waves and smiles, as well as some odd looks. One thing for sure - I won't be taking it on the Interstate - it has 13.5 horsepower, and a top speed of 85 Kilometers per hour - or about 52 mph. Given the average speed of traffic in a '55' zone is actually closer to 75, I do not want to be a French speed bump! That said, I had it up to 70 kph according to the speedometer, which is about 43 mph - downhill, of course. | |
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| July 27, 2026 - Everything but the headlights is working now - I figured out the problem with the turn signals. The right side had a bad bulb connection and the left had a connector inside loose. The car is very slow - I took it around the block a few times. I don't know if mine needs some more attention or if that is what I can expect from 2 cylinders. Not a worry. As I get better at driving the car, I will test its capabilities. And I still have to figure out how to hang a license plate! The back has no provision for American license plates - the French plates from new are still riveted to the boot plate. The order from Burton 2CV in the Netherlands should arrive in a week or so. That will give me headlights and I can finish the front bumper. |
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July 26, 2026 - Several items were fixed today. I was able to lift and straighten the front bumper, verified power at the turn signal switch and output lugs, and located the turn signals (part of the side lights.) The brake lights are working. Now all I have to do is find a way to mount a Virginia license plate. Everything I have seen indicates the car had a lot of money spent on it after the Fantomworks episode. New paint, interior, top, and lights, plus other odds and ends in the engine bay. |
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| July 17, 2026 - The true history of the Citroen is coming to light. I was able to talk with the man I got the car from, and he corrected a lot of misconceptions started by Dan Short of Fantomworks Auto Restoration. The car began life in the Alps and was brought to Florida by the original owner. After that it was bought by a man who kept it for 16 years, then sold it through Ron Susser's eBay brokerage for $4500. At that time it was a very solid original car with a gray top and seats and 69K miles. The buyer was a European entrepreneur who built a film company in Suffolk that as one of its jobs, filmed 'Fantomworks.' His daughter and Dan Short's daughter actually pretended to own the 2CV, and the whole 'French Can-Can' was a not-not. Sometime after 2017 (when the Fantomworks episode was filmed), the owner had the car cosmetically restored with a new red top and seats, and probably new paint (There are no signs of the stickers that covered the trunk lid when it was sold by Susser and the car looks darker.). He gave the car to the next owner as compensation for mechanical work done on other cars shortly before he passed away. This owner sold the car to my friend who never titled the car, and ended up trading me for my 1949 Nash. | |
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| July 14, 2026 - I actually drove the 2CV home today! Some car shuffling moved the 1951 Studebaker Land Cruiser to the garage where the 1949 Nash has been waiting, and it moved to the warehouse where the Citroen was. It did fine, if weirdly. I was able to straighten the front bumper and only need the center strip. I was also get the fan shroud reshaped so it doesn't 'ding' while the car is running. Some interesting background surfaced. I ran the ID number through Google and came up with a bunch of photos from about 2015. The car had been listed for sale and included some background. The car was used by the first owner in the Alps, and then was purchased by a man who did not drive it much. The car is believed to have been original then, but it has obviously been partly restored since. You can read the whole Ron Susser.Com listing here. The hood also latches, though the shape should keep it down at the blistering top speed of about 51 mph. |  |
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July 3, 2026 - A lot of good news today. The new 2-gauge battery cables and the cleaned-up original battery work well together, and crank and start the 2CV every time. The front fan shroud is hitting a bit. I was able to get most of it taken care of. I also discovered this is a late 1962 which has the electric wipers and improved dashboard are commonly used to identify 1963 models (Model year changes are more running changes in European cars). It may even have the bigger 18 HP engine! Brake lights and turn signals are not working, though that may be a fuse. The shroud grille and front bumper and center trim were damaged in a very minor crunch sometime in the last, but all are still available. The title for the car is hung up a bit due to a need for a death certificate from the prior owner's family, but I should have that sorted next week. |
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| July 2, 2026 - Although I have not completed the deal, it looks like this 1962 Citroen 2CV is going to be mine. I have traded the 1949 Nash Ambassador for it. With the 1962 Cadillac firmly ensconced in the garage, I just do not have room for the Nash inside, and I am NOT going to park it outside. A friend offered to trade the 2CV for it, and once I got it running, I agreed. The 2CV will fit in the garage with the three big cars (1962 Cadillac, 1954 Mercury, and 1941 Packard) and is rather quirky and different. In case the car looks familiar, it starred in the Fantomworks Season 4, Episode 11 "French Fried". A Citroen site editor blasted Fantomworks for their lack of knowledge, but other reviews were pretty decent. The car had supposedly been brought in by some 'Can-Can' dancers for a mechanical refresh. (The last two photos are of the finished Fantomworks project) Someone replaced the battery cables with 4-gauge 12-volt lines that I have to upgrade to 6-volt 2-gauge cables, and the battery is in poor shape. So far I have found the parts I want (front bumper), and I am told most everything is available for the. Something different, though it will be a great pair-up for both my 1962 Cadillac (The other end of the scale that year) and my 1966 Solex (even more austere French Wheels!) |
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